Indicted lawyer for accused terrorists says government's out to silence him

A New York City lawyer with a history of representing alleged terrorists accused the federal government today of taking revenge by filing bogus criminal charges against him.

Stanley L. Cohen, who once said he’d be willing to represent Osama bin Laden, pleaded innocent in Syracuse federal court this morning to charges of obstructing and impeding the Internal Revenue Service.

Cohen, 61, said after his arraignment that the Justice Department was going after him as payback for years of criminal defense work across the country.

“I’ve been a thorn in the side of the United States government my entire career,” Cohen said. “In particular, I’ve been a thorn in the side of (U.S. Attorney General) Eric Holder, the Department of Justice, and the foreign policy of this country.”

Cohen, dressed in a pinstripe business suit and wearing his hair in a ponytail, called the three-count indictment against him “nonsense.”

“I think it was brought to silence and punish me, and I think a jury will agree,” he said.

The indictment charged Cohen with failing to report to the IRS cash payments from clients. He’s accused of not reporting cash payments totaling $20,000 from one client in 2008, and $15,000 in Canadian currency from another client in 2010. The clients' names are listed in the indictment only by their initials.

The indictment accuses Cohen of obstructing the IRS from 2005 to 2010. He said in an interview that in those five years he'd filed extensions on his taxes and was making payments to the IRS.

"We filed extensions, we made payments," he said. "Now we're fighting over how much or how little."

Cohen has defended a half-dozen accused terrorists, including the political leader of Hamas. He’s also represented clients in the Northern District of New York, the indictment said. Those clients included Mohawk Indians accused of smuggling $687 million worth of cigarettes and liquor through the Indian reservation into Canada in the mid-1990s.

In a court appearance this morning, prosecutors did not ask that Cohen be held in jail, but asked U.S. Magistrate David Peebles to order him to get the court’s permission before traveling to a foreign country. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Green asked that before Cohen first disclose his itinerary to the court, along with the names of the clients he’s going to meet with.

If he’s convicted as charged, Cohen would lose his law license, which would make him a risk of fleeing, Green said. Green also asked Peebles to require Cohen to notify prosecutors in other jurisdictions that he’s facing criminal charges, to prevent any conflicts of interests in those cases.

Cohen represents 10 clients in the Northern District of New York, along with clients in 12 other states and five foreign countries, said his lawyer, James McLoughlin, who objected to both of the government’s requested conditions of release.

Peebles denied prosecutors’ request that Cohen get court permission before traveling outside the U.S. The judge asked both sides to submit written arguments on the question of whether Cohen must notify other prosecutors of his charges.